PSL statement: Solidarity with the people of Sudan and the Sudanese Communist Party

The Party for Socialism and Liberation stands in solidarity with the people of Sudan and the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) in their struggle against the austerity measures enforced by the Sudanese government as dictated by International Monetary Fund.

Facing the mass actions that continue full strength across the country, the ruling National Congress Party intensified the violence and repression against the masses and members of the SCP. The state security forces injured hundreds and killed more than 50 demonstrators while detaining over 500, including seven members of the Central Committee of the SCP.

We denounce this repression against the SCP and urge the Sudanese government to release all detainees, including the SCP comrades, who are raising legitimate grievances of the Sudanese poor and working class.

The political situation in Sudan is complex. The National Congress Party government, historically, has been an antagonist of Western powers and Israel. This had led to Sudan being, since the 1990s, frequently targeted by sanctions, subversion and bombing raids from the United States and Israel.

The Bashir government has repeatedly tried to get back into the graces of the Western powers to varying degrees of success. Examples of this include: collaborating with the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program; severing relations with Iran in 2014; providing ground troops for the Saudi war in Yemen; and of course implementing IMF dictates like the events that precipitated the current upsurge in mass struggle. While the Sudanese government now attributes the current protest movement to the Israeli Mossad, for years Sudan has been flirting for years with establishing relations with Israel; Sudan’s minister of investment was denounced by the Palestinian and Arab left last year when he advocated for such formal relations, calling Israel a “democratic regime” and blaming the Palestinian people for “selling out” their land.

There is no doubt that Sudan’s already existing economic woes were deeply exacerbated by the recent partition of the country; the area that now forms South Sudan contained 75 percent of the country’s oil and made up 90 percent of its foreign exports. Now the austerity measures, on top of capitalist inequality and flagrant corruption from the ruling NCP, have brought the country to the brink.

As with all spontaneous economic protests, there is a political struggle for leadership in which the SCP now is a contending force. Considering the complexities of Sudan’s relationships in the region and the world, revolutionary forces must remain vigilant about the potential of U.S. imperialism or an allied regional power to use the protests to their own ends and rid themselves of an unstable ally. Such a development would reinforce exactly the types of policies protesters are opposing now. Reports are that some of the largest protests have been planned in large meetings at the SCP headquarters. The SCP has a proud and long history and was once one of the largest communist parties in the world that did not have state power.

It is impossible to consider these protests outside of the context of the NCP government’s attempts to move decisively into the camp of U.S. imperialism and its regional allies. As it stands, the U.S. State Department as of November was praising the Sudanese government and paving the way to renewed bilateral relations; they’ve said nothing in support of the Sudanese protesters, as they have done in so many other circumstances in which they intend to back a protest movement. The political trajectory of the Sudanese government opens the door to truly revolutionary change, which will only come through struggle.

We send our revolutionary greetings and solidarity to all the members of SCP and the masses of Sudanese people who are gallantly fighting back against the brutal NCP repression and their bankrupt IMF-dictated economic policies of austerity and plunder designed to enrich the U.S.-elites while impoverishing the working class of Sudan.